Category Archives: ERCOT
Price supports for deregulated electric companies?
Should policymakers in Texas approve measures intended specifically to increase profits for deregulated power companies? Continue reading
ERCOT’s market “watchdog” wants higher electric prices
The Independent Market Monitor — a position created by the Texas Legislature in 2005 to act as a watchdog of the state’s wholesale electricity market — recently issued its annual State of the Market Report for 2010. The report was unusual in that it addressed the final year of the “zonal” system, which ERCOT has used to manage the wholesale … Continue reading
EPA rule draws fire during legislative hearing
A controversial new federal clean air rule would result in Texas job losses, reduce grid reliability and threaten the state’s most vulnerable residents, according to industry and government representatives who testified Tuesday before a key legislative panel. The officials — including those representing the Public Utility Commission, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality — … Continue reading
Transmission Cost Projections Off By Nearly $2 billion
New Findings Confirm Old Warnings News flash: expensive new transmission lines under development to support wind power will end up costing Texans nearly 40 percent more than earlier projections. A city coalition warned in 2008 that transmission cost projections were off target. That’s according to a new report, just released last month, which has concluded that a system of high-voltage lines … Continue reading
ERCOT: Mothballed Plants to Ease Blackout Worries
Responding to record high electricity demand and the scorching heat, the state’s grid operator this week arranged for four mothballed generating units to temporarily come back online to guard against blackouts. Operated by NRG Energy and Garland Power & Light, the old gas-fired units will be available through October. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the organization that manages the … Continue reading
4 Heat Wave Conservation Tips to Save You $$$
The record heat in Texas this week has sent electricity usage soaring. Several Texas power plants also failed unexpectedly, leading to greater burdens for the power grid and higher wholesale energy prices in the spot market. ERCOT, the grid operator, issued several emergency warnings this week and has called for Texans to conserve. But conservation makes sense even in the absence of a heat emergency — … Continue reading
Temperatures in Texas soar — and so do energy prices
The rolling blackouts that swept through Texas last February have been blamed on the unexpected failure of generation plants. The temperature dropped during a cold snap, the plants froze up, and then — before anybody really knew what hit them — the lights went out. And now we’re in the middle of another weather event – this time a heat … Continue reading
New Questions about February Blackouts
Besides leaving Texans without power, the rolling blackouts or last February also sent shockwaves through the state’s wholesale energy market. Electricity that typically sold for less than $75 suddenly was fetching $3,000. The price spikes were nearly unprecedented. Clearly somebody was making money off the crisis. And now a new report is raising troubling questions about the event. Robert McCullough, an Oregon-based economist best known … Continue reading
Electric Deregulation Still Failing to Deliver For Texans
There’s a lot been made about the relationship between natural gas prices and how much we all pay for electricity. That’s because a large portion of the energy sold in the Lone Star State comes from gas-fired electricity plants. So when the price of natural gas goes down, so too does the price of electricity. We’ve witnessed that trend over … Continue reading
TCAP Warning: New PUC Rule Anti-Competitive
Some Texans will be prevented from exercising choice in the deregulated electricity market under controversial new Public Utility Commission rules that took effect on Wednesday. The new rules have drawn opposition from the Texas Coalition for Affordable Power and other consumer groups. Under the rules, a retail electric provider can hold a Texan with past due electric bills as a … Continue reading
